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Yoga on the Steps breast cancer fundraiser comes to Denver

Moving through cancer

By Aimee Heckel Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
09/18/2012 01:00:00 AM MDT

Laura Kupperman, of Boulder, teaches Yoga for Survivors classes that specialize in helping people with cancer heal their bodies and beyond. Kupperman is leading a Boulder group in Colorado's first Yoga on the Steps fundraiser this year.
(
PAUL AIKEN
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If you go

What: Yoga on the Steps, to benefit the nonprofit Living Beyond Breast Cancer

Debra Livingston is on her way to play her first tennis match in two years.

For a breast cancer survivor who endured seven surgeries, this is no small miracle, she admits. In fact, she remembers her first attempt at Yoga for Survivors, a yoga class specifically designed for people who have battled cancer and other physical hurdles.

"I couldn't hold a rubber band and get it over my head," says Livingston, of Boulder. "I laid in class for years, barely moving. I was so bound up."

But with careful help and patience, she slowly regained her motion. And equally as important, she also grew stronger mentally and emotionally, with the support of other people who understood what she was going through, she says. Livingston "absolutely" attributes a crucial part of her recovery -- she's cancer free today -- to her yoga classes.

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This weekend, Livingston hopes to share that hope and support with other cancer survivors at a mega outdoor yoga fundraising class called Yoga on the Steps.

The nonprofit, Living Beyond Breast Cancer, launched the event 10 years ago in Philadelphia, attracting just 60 people. This year, the Philly event drew 1,250 participants, raising $320,000. Yoga on the Steps expanded to Washington, D.C., last year and Denver this year. Event organizers expect 200 people to raise $70,000 in Colorado.

"We didn't choose a walk or run like most organizations because we did the research: Yoga has proven benefits for women with breast cancer," says Jenna Jackson, special events coordinator with Living Beyond Breast Cancer.

Studies show that cancer patients who do yoga sleep better, have less fatigue and can better engage in daily activities, like walking up stairs and carrying groceries. Another study by the Integrative Medicine Program found yoga and other mind-body practices incorporated in standard care for breast cancer patients can improve their outcomes and quality of life.

Livingston, who ended up having a bilateral mastectomy, thinks staying active during treatment and recovery is crucial.

"If you don't, especially if you have one side you're diagnosed with, you tend to guard that area, so many women get a frozen shoulder or inability to use that arm or rotation," she says.

Plus, she says, her yoga teacher recognized symptoms of an unsafe condition with her lymph node (called "cording") that her doctors didn't even know about.

That's because her teacher was Laura Kupperman -- a breast cancer survivor herself, who specializes in yoga for survivor classes. She teaches multiple classes in Boulder and also travels the country training other yoga instructors on these kinds of classes. A few days ago, she returned from a training seminar in Chicago.

Kupperman, of Boulder, and her team "Kick Breast Cancer's Ass-ana" (a spoof on the yoga term "asana") are leading up the fundraising efforts for this weekend's Yoga on the Steps.

Back then, there were no classes specifically tailored for cancer survivors.

Initially, Kupperman said she told her husband that she was just going to get through treatment and move on; "I'm never going to be one of those people wearing a pink ribbon participating in fundraisers. I'm not going to stay stuck in the cancer world," she remembers saying.

"And yet I was given this hand of cards to play as I chose," she says. "I could have played the cards quickly and gotten out of there."

Compared with other people, Kupperman says her experience was "manageable." And as she sat in support groups with other women, sharing stories and sharing how yoga was helping her, she says she realized this was her "dharma," or her purpose in life -- the role the universe handed her to play in a bigger picture that she might not be able to fully see.

Kupperman went back to school and completed a comprehensive 21/2-year, 1,000-hour training to be a yoga therapist.

Her yoga classes are different than a traditional yoga class. Instead of starting with a focus for all students to think about, she does it the other way around: She starts by asking her students what they need and she tailors the class for them. Every posture, every breath, is designed to be an opportunity for some sort of healing, she says.

Classes are small, usually seven to 10 people. Sometimes, a student might just work through four independent restorative poses throughout the whole class. Kupperman knows it can be hard to think about doing an exercise class when you're already so exhausted. But she also knows this was her pathway to recovery and a new, deeper strength.

"There's something very empowering when you're in a situation where you're dis-empowered, to feel like you can still build yourself up in some way," she says. "You can have control over that feeling of healing -- being at peace with whatever is going on."

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